.:: Literary Terms ::.

[G!KE]

Hi everyone,

how's it going? ... I hope everythig is great .
Here are some literary terms that should be known for anyone who wants to study English especially English Literature. All of these terms are collected and written by me.
It's an outcome of what i studied last semester. Here they are:

Poetry: a composition that evokes emotion and imagination by the use of vivid, intense language. It's usually arranged in a pattern of words or lines with a regularly repeated accentor stress.

In content, poetry expresses thoughts that are significant and sincere. It's marked by the presence of power, beauty and dignity.

In form, the most characteristic of poetry is the presence of rhythm.
There is a regularity of rise and fall in accent that is more uniform than that of prose. Repeated rhymes and rhyme schemes frequently add to the musical effect of lines.

Poetry is classifies into three types:
1. The epic: a poem written about war.
2. The lyric: a poem written to be sung.
3. The dramatic.

Acronym: a word formed from the initial letter of set of words. E.g., UNESCO.

Alliteration: the repetition of the first sound in two or more words in a line.
E.g., So Far From the Farm.

Assonance: the repetition of the same vowel sound in two or more words in a line. E.g., I pray every day.

Autobiography: a history of someone written by him/her self.

Ballad: a poem that tells a story.

Biography: a history of someone written by someone else.

Blank Verse: a poem written in unrhymed iambic pentameter.

Catharsis: means: purgation. The purging of emotions such as fear and pity that the audience experiences as they see the dramatic action unfolded.

Chain of Being: a composed of a great number of hierarchal links, from the most basic and foundational elements up through the very highest perfection
In other word 'God.'

Character: a person or anything represented as a person such as an object, an animal, a spirit or natural force in a literary work. There are two type of characters:
1.Developing Character: that is changed in a play or story during the process of the action. Or that is influenced by the action.
2.Static Character: that is not changed in a play or story during the process of the action. Or that is influenced by the action.

Consonance: the repetition of the same consonant sound in two or more words in a line.

Connotation: an implied meaning of a word.

Diction: words chosen for their quality.

Didactic Poetry: a poem that teaches a lesson.

Deus ex Machine:
1. In ancient, Greek and Roman drama, is a god descending from a heaven.
2. A sudden unexpected event that happens to change the difficult situation in a drama.

Dramatic Irony: the words or acts of a character in a play carry a meaning unknown to him/her self but understood by the audience.

Denotation: the lexical meaning of a word.

Elegy: a poem written to commemorate the death of someone. Or a lament for the dead.

Eulogy: a poem written to eulogize someone.

Euphemism: a polite word or expression that is substituted for a more direct or impolite one to avoid shocking or upsetting someone.

Eye Rhymed: a rhyme consisting of words with similar spelling but different sounds. E.g., love|dove, womb|tomb.

Flash Back: a reference to an event which took which took place prior to the beginning of a story or play.

Foot: in verse or prose, foot is a measurement or a unit consisting of a define pattern. The most common patterns are:
1.Iambus: A metrical unit with unstressed-stressed syllables. ᴗ /
2.Trochee: A metrical unit with stressed-unstressed syllables. / ᴗ
3.Anapest: A metrical unit with unstressed-unstressed-stressed syllables. ᴗ ᴗ /
4.Dactyl: A metrical unit with stressed-unstressed-unstressed syllables. / ᴗ ᴗ
ᴗ = (Stressed syllable or Accented) , / = (Unstressed syllable or Unaccented)

Muses: the nine ancient Greek goddesses who each represented a particular art or science.

Onomatopoeia: Using words that imitate the sound they denote. E.g., buzz or boom.

Personification: a figure of speech in which something nonhuman is given human characteristics.

Picaresque Novel: when an author uses on of his character that is poor or homeless and makes him transfer from a place to another in order to discover the society. The character is like an author's eye in the novel.

Poetic Diction: words chosen for their poetic quality. E.g., ne'er (never) and e'er (ever).

Refrain: the last line or a group of words repeated regularly at the end of the stanza.

Renaissance: the period of time in Europe between 14th and 17th centuries, when art, literature, philosophy, and scientific ideas became very important and a lot of new art etc was produced.

Requiem: a mass for a dead.

Sonnet: a lyric poem of 14 lines. There are three characteristic types of sonnet:
1.Italian Sonnet (Petrachan): divided into the octave '8 lines' and the sestet '6 lines'. The rhyme scheme is: abba abba, cde cde or cd cd cd.

2.English Sonnet (Shakespearean): consisting of three quatrains '4 lines' and a rhyming couplet '2 lines'. The rhyme scheme is abab cdcd efef gg.

3.The Spenserian: consisting of three quatrains and a couplet. The rhyme scheme is abab bcbd cdcd ee.

Theater of Absurd: a drama based on absurd situation.

Theme: an ingredient of a literary work which gives the work unity. The theme simply provides an answer to a question what is the work about?

The Faust Theme: Johann Faust (1488-1541) was a German magician who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for knowledge, power and worldly goods. In the sixteen century, Christopher Marlow used the Faust theme as a basis of his drama The Tragedy of Dr. Faust.

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I hope all of you get benefit of them

note: the same topic was posted by Hirako "who's me" in some forums..

REGARDz

[كلي امل بالله]

Thanks a lot ,

we need these terms in our depart--
thank you

[nour al3mr]

This is a great job
and I hope all students get benefit from this wonderful topic
to be ready for other courses in literature
although I was taken this course last semester
but a lot of terms are new for me

وأســـــأل رب الأرض و السمــــاء أن يبارك لك في عملك هذا ويجعلك ذخرا لك يوم القيـــامة ..
وثقيــلا في ميزان حسنـــــــاتك ..

God protect u

[dedo11]

god bless u thank u so so much

[سهر]

اخوي هذي المصطلحات للبويتري؟؟ ولا للمودرن كمان؟؟

الف شكر لك اخوي على مجهودكـ

[ESC]

Thank u
i'll make a copy and save it
=)

[G!KE]

first of all, i'd thank all of you

كلي امل بالله

thanks and yup we need it so much =D

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nour

thanks .. i hope u learn them not for now but for the future=p
Amen u too sister

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dedo11

thank u too =D

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سهر

اخوي هذي المصطلحات للبويتري؟؟ ولا للمودرن كمان؟؟

u meant old and modern literature?
anyway, it deals with both of 'em

i studied it in Introduction to literature in level3
some of them for poetry, novel
and some for play... it helps in literature generally

i hope i dealt with ur question correctly <3

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ESC

thanks.. read them after saving =P